[BPSDB] I was lurking on the bad science forum again today (been off work with a stinker of a cold) and found a link to this, a claim that children are not developing their physical co-ordination as rapidly as they used to.
Now, I am not a developmental psychologist but a couple of things in this set off my woodar. First, it is not peer-reviewed research but a conference presentation – always a bad sign. Secondly, it was presented by Madeleine Portwood of Durham fish-oil trial initiative fame. Now just because she’s been involved with one piece of rubbish research does not mean anything she touches turns to dross, so let’s have a look at the claims.
It is claimed that around 30% of five year olds (up from 10% a decade ago) do not know in which hand they should hold a pencil. Matthew Moore, the journalist who wrote the article, may be oversimplifying the data here but as far as I am aware, there is no hand one “should” use for writing; the important point is surely how well the children can draw or write with whichever hand they choose to use and we are not told this.
Moore then goes on: “The disclosure added to fears that children are developing more slowly than in the past, leaving them unable to cope with routine tasks like peeling potatoes as they grow older.”
What fears? Do I detect the birth of another spurious health scare? And how does he get from being ambidextrous (which is what being unable to decide which hand to use amounts to) at age five to being unable to peel spuds in later life?
Portwood is quoted as saying: “More and more children are not going through the crawling stage. They shuffle along on their bottoms and find a chair, a table or curtains and use their arms to pull up to a standing position,” No evidence is offered for this, nor for the implication that this means of moving around leads to confusion over handedness when children start school.
Finally, we are told that “Mrs Portwood’s previous research has shown that 57 per cent of three-year-olds are unable to carry out tasks expected of their age. Young children are spending too much time watching television and not enough time interacting with objects with their hands, experts believe.”
No link is provided to this research. I would like to see some evidence, not be told it is true because experts “believe” it to be so.